Apr 1, 2008
How does one measure the damage done by someone’s pursuit of their obsession? I think inevitably it is a measure of the disregard one shows toward those other parts of the obsessed one’s life that suffer as a result of otherwise due amounts of attention being spent on the object of the obsession. This begs the questions, can any obsession be healthy and can an obsession really be termed that if the those other parts of one’s life remains intact,…
Jan 14, 2008
If I had a dollar for every time I heard a person say "If you don’t charge more for the wine they won’t take it seriously" I’d have enough money to fund a research project on why people believe the more expensive it is the better is. Of course no one does give me a dollar every time I hear such a thing so it’s a damn good thing we have the folks over at the California Institute of Technology…
Dec 31, 2007
The Art of Drinking on New Years Eve First let’s begin from the premise that New Year’s Eve is, or at least has become, an accepted excuse to indulge. Now, let’s change the traditional understanding of the idea of "indulging" from meaning excessive consumption of drink and make it mean excessive consumption of good drink. This change is meaning is important because it’s necessary to justify opening absurd amounts of very good wines and spirits and also assumes a certain…
Dec 12, 2007
Inspired by Paul Gregutt’s excellent story on the meaning of wine terms, I began fantasizing about being named the American Wine Czar and being given complete control over wine regulations in the United States. I’ve fantasized about this before but given the wonderful fantasy it is, the topic deserves an update. My first set of acts as the American Wine Czar are: THE OLD VINE" REGULATIONAny wine produced in the United States that carries the term "Old Vine" or "Ancient…
Nov 13, 2007
We’ve had this discussion before. Do you parents let your small children, say 4, 5, 6, 7-years old taste wine? Is it a proper, even healthy, thing to do? If you do, is there a fear in the back of your mind that the agents of the state will break down your door and make an example of you? Someone else is wondering about this question. In fact, she’s writing a story for the Associated Press about parents that introduce…